Team Windcraft’s Peter Hrones wins Global Dealer of the Year for new Moody Deck Saloon 54

It’s not often that an Australian yacht dealer plays a role in the creation of a new yacht for the international market and wins an award for his efforts.

Team Windcraft Managing Director Peter Hrones was recently awarded Hanse Group Global Dealer of the Year for his vision, confidence and innovative spirit during the creation of the new Moody 54DS.

The Moody 54DS, with its easy, high performance sail set up and luxury “ONE LEVEL LIVING” interior design is the future of off-shore cruising boats.

Peter’s involvement in the design of the 54DS came about largely due to his incredible sales success with Moody yachts in Australia and his personal experience:  he was the first to buy a Moody 45DS and has sailed it over 6000 NM up the coast with his family.

The Moody 54DS is the future of off-shore cruising yachts. Created to cater to the growing popularity of the 50-60 foot luxury class and with the Australian market in mind, Moody considered Peter’s input essential and brought him on board from day one to work closely with Moody creator Bill Dixon.

Essentially, Bill Dixon has given the 54DS all the design features that make the 45DS an ultimate long-distance cruiser, including a clever sail and rigging set up for easy short-handed sailing and a deck saloon that offers protection from the weather and panoramic views. 

The 54DS’s new features include the repositioning of the steering station upfront in the deck saloon for better visibility, a more spacious interior with extra layout options, including a choice of upstairs or downstairs galley and a four cabin, additional refrigeration and storage, and larger water and fuel tanks.

Although he had an additional 9 feet of boat, he didn’t want to crowd too much in. From his family’s experience living on their 45DS, he has incorporated plenty of room to move in the saloon.

“The dining area is huge – 2.91m long by 1.65m wide – with a rounded table that seats 6-8 comfortably and drops down to make a coffee table and larger lounge area,” says Peter.

Aft there’s a gear locker and utility room with a freezer and a choice between a cabin with a guest toilet and laundry, or a storage area.

For added safety, the kitchen is gas free and features all the mod cons of home.

Peter Hrones and Windcraft commissioning and service technician Ross Turner recently collected the award in Germany and witnessed the 54DS’s ‘inception’ –  the creation of the plug, or mould, from which the deck is made. This involved a CNC 5 axis milling machine, which is similar to a 3D printer.

“The Hanse Group have boat building down to a fine art,” says Peter.

“In their endeavour to produce consistently high quality boats quickly, and efficiently in an environmentally friendly way, they have invested in the latest technology and master craftsmanship, and introduced a lean production strategy where each stage has a specific set of tools to ensure high precision,” explains Ross. Their PROFA technology, a problem failure analysis, immediately identifies and fixes any problems along the way.

The Hanse factory has also been recognised as having the cleanest air emissions than any GRP (glass reinforced plastic/fibreglass) factory in Europe.

The Moody 54DS will make its international debut at the Dusseldorf boat show on 18^th January 2014. In April, Peter and his family will test the first 54DS in the Mediterranean before her Australian debut at the 2014 International Sydney Boat Show on 31st July.